Six players, including every starter, reached double digits in scoring as the visiting UBC Thunderbirds routed the UBC Okanagan Heat 112-57 in Canada West basketball play Friday in Kelowna.
Grant Shephard, a graduate of Kelowna Secondary School in his third year with the T-Birds, contributed 21 points and seven rebounds while hitting nine of 14 shots from the field.
Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowUBC's Grant Shephard receives a pass in front of UBCO Heat's Imoudu Ibrahim.Senior guard Manroop Clair was spectacular with a near-triple-double performance that included 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. He shot 66.7%, making 10 of 15 attempts from the field, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.
The Thunderbirds opened the game on a 10-0 run, and never looked back. Cohee's triple at the end of the first quarter left UBC ahead 28-10. His basket was part of a 20-2 run that bridged the first and second quarters.
Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowFormer KSS Owl teammates, Owen Keyes and Grant Shephard battle for a rebound the first quarter.A pair of Shephard foul shots capped off a 14-3 surge that finished the half with the 'Birds (5-2 on the season) ahead 57-17.
UBCO (1-6) scored 40 of their 57 points in the second half, 16 of them coming from Philip Okanlawon.
Heat head coach Clay Pottinger commented on his team's performance post-game:
Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNowSpencer Thomas of the Heat considers his options against the UBC Thunderbirds."The stuff we started doing in the second half was there all throughout the first half too. It's just a matter of if our players are seeing it and recognizing it. I thought we had a good game-plan and we knew what we wanted to do. But when the rubber hit the road, the things we wanted to execute just weren't happening."
The two teams meet again today beginning at 6 p.m. at UBCO.
Kelowna’s Johnson shines in return home
Immaculata High School grad, Kate Johnson, came off the bench to score 15 points as the visiting UBC Thunderbirds defeated the UBCO Heat 77-44 in Canada West women’s basketball action on Friday at the UBCO gymnasium.
Johnson, also a former Heat player, added five rebounds and five steals for the Thunderbirds.
Photo Credit: ContributedKelowna's Kasey Patchell, left, made her Canada West debut with a team-high 10-point performance for the Heat while Immaculata High School grad, Kate Johnson scored 15 points for the UBC Thunderbirds.Keylyn Filewich was once again at the forefront of UBC's offensive attack with a game-high 18 points as the Thunderbirds held the lead nearly the entire game.
The Loss drops the Heat to (1-7) on the season, while UBC improves to (5-2).
The Heat grabbed the lead early in the game but would be quickly met with strong pushback from their sister school. UBC took an (18-12) lead into the second quarter.
Photo Credit: ContributedMackenzie Horst of the Heat follows through on a shot against the UBC Thunderbirds.The T-Birds extended their lead in the second quarter as Filewich poured in 12 of her game-high 18. The fourth-year guard led the game with 16 points and six boards at the half.
UBC was able to take a firm grasp of the game in the second half as they outscored the Heat (36-21).
Second-year guard Kasey Patchell, a KSS grad making her first career Canada West start for the Heat, played 24 minutes adding a team-high 10 points in the losing effort.
Fifth-year forward Jordan Korol added six points and seven boards for the Heat.
The Heat's 44 points in the game is their lowest total of the season as they were held to 28% shooting from the field. The Thunderbirds were able to connect on 42% of their field goals.
Heat head coach Bobby Mitchell was able to pull some positives from the loss.
"We wanted to come out and be aggressive, I was proud of our start, that is exactly how we wanted in to go, unfortunately, they made some adjustments at half."
The two teams rematch today beginning at 4 p.m.
